Arts in Motion: Freeze-Frame Photos to Kinetic Sculpture

What could be stranger than a person twisted and frozen in time inches above a street? How about a wind-powered automaton bred to be the perfect perpetual motion machine? The following three artists all approach motion in different ways – through photography, sculpture and video – but the results are awe-inspiring in each case.

Denis Darzacq, moved by September 11th and riots in his native France, took a series of photographs which he entitled The Fall. These images were shot with a normal camera and not altered post-production in any way. Darzacq set up sessions with hip-hop and break dancers in the most abandoned parts of Paris he could find.

Theo Jansen likewise plays with ideas of art and motion, but in a radically different way. Watching his kinetic sculptures from a distance they seem more than lifelike: they appear positively alive. Though the video of his work is impressive, it doesn’t convey the full story. Rather than stop at a single sculpture, Jansen tests the abilities of each of his creations and then “breeds” the best survivors into each new generation.

Russel Wyner‘s work is perhaps more playful than the artists cited above, who have made their way increasingly into the public limelight. At the same time, however, he presents the underlying message that television and animation are often discredited as media that can be used in the creation of high art. The above video shows both his amazing creative abilities as well as the whimsical side of his art.